


the Incorrigible Woman

by theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs



Category: Naruto
Genre: Belated Happy Birthday ShikaIno, F/M, Tumblr Prompt, character appreciation, sort of like fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 11:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12189006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs/pseuds/theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs
Summary: "Hey, do you love me?"





	the Incorrigible Woman

**Author's Note:**

> belated Happy birthday to my ShikaIno. I'm sorry for not having made it on time. As for the Aim It Right readers, soon, dears. Sorry! I hope you guys enjoy the quick one shot!

"Hey, do you love me?"

Shikamaru blinks at her and for a moment, he doesn't know how to respond. He looks at her with equal amounts of exasperation, disbelief and amusement all over his face. But Ino looks genuinely troubled and upset. He wonders why today of all days, she would ask him this.

To most people, Ino is someone larger than life. She was always intimidating, loud, fashionable, and absolutely stunning. She was also a very lethal kunoichi who came from a noble old clan and even claims the highest position in said clan. Ino was really smart too, smart enough to be ranked among the highest in their year. And smart enough to see through anyone's bullshit and was confident enough to call them out on it. She was also a hard working, overachieving, passionate and ruthlessly goal-oriented woman. Once, Ino was claimed as one of the most beautiful women to live this side of the Fire Country by one of those Kunoichi Weekly magazines. She was ranked  among the crème de la crème of Konoha kunoichi. A jounin early at her sixteenth year, constantly worked among the highest officials in the Intelligence division, polished off her clan techniques by the time the war rolled around, and was a devious business woman for someone who grew the most delicate and hard-to-bloom of flowers and plants in her own greenhouse. Her confidence and charisma oozed from her dainty fingers to her silk and honey words. She was a goddess among men and she loved to flaunt off her best amongst the awed and the envious. She was everything they wanted and everything they wanted to be.

But Shikamaru knew her better than that. After all, they weren't born even a day apart. So to all those perverted admirers and the jealous haters, he had one thing to say. _Ino was as fake as they come._ She was the most insecure, vain, loudmouthed, obscene, clumsy, careless and reckless person he ever had the luck to meet. And he loved her very much. Every minute he spent with her, every argument they had and every little thing that made Ino who she was... Call him crazy. But Nara Shikamaru would not have it any other way.

Shikamaru watched her amble and plod and struggle and crawl her way to where she was. And all the while without losing her true self. Being a kunoichi in a shinobi's world was hard enough. But she also paved her way all on her own towards success in the man's world as an independent woman who took on no excuses, not even from herself or anyone around her. Sure he complained when she would take in upon herself the responsibility of making him train and do real work and practically shove his own clan head duties down his throat, but he appreciated it. In all honesty, there are times when he was genuinely fearful of what would happen to him if Ino and his best friend would disappear from his life. Maybe that's why InoShikaCho worked so well. (If so, he would need to make more offerings at the family shrine for having such wise ancestors.) At the time Asuma-sensei died, Ino was the one to bring him back from the darkness and practically thrusted hope in his hands. Kurenai-sensei and Mirai-chan needed them. And when Shikaku and Inoichi passed, she was his stronghold, putting her own grief aside to make room for his so that they could keep living.

She had put up the front of how people saw her to not disappoint anyone she loved. After all, she grew up in a clan that, though not as harsh as most old families were, still had a hard time accepting a woman as their next leader. She was the only proper heiress however, so they begrudgingly agreed. She wanted to earn their trust and be strong enough to protect them, even at five years old when her father first explained how hard being the heiress would be. The memory of her strong and heroic father apologizing with tears in his eyes for placing the burdens on such tiny and fragile shoulders would forever stand out in Ino's mind. And that was how Ino came to be who she was. She always had to prove herself and work tirelessly to earn her place. If people thought she was snobbish because she was born with a silver spoon, they could never be more wrong. Inoichi always feared that his daughter would burn herself out. But she proved them wrong. Her will of fire was as strong as ever, burning through the darkest times of her life and providing comfort and shelter and warmth at the aftermath.

Ino was, yes, nothing short of amazing. And he would die protecting her if it came down to that. They were always stuck with each other so it couldn't be helped in the first place, courtesy of their fathers and their fathers before them. So he was there when she took her first steps, her first word, her first successful shuriken throw, and a whole ton of firsts for both of them that it was too embarrassing to count. Her attempts to leave him behind to form other friendships were as successful as any outsider would think, only that by the end of the day, it was the Akimichi's dinner table or the Nara's den or the Yamanaka greenhouses for all three of them. Sleepovers were expected almost daily. And then they become a genin three-man cell together. He was practically raised (born, even) to be with her. And old habits die hard. After everything they went through, how could she even ask that? Of course he loved her. He loved her so much he felt like he was a sunflower and she was the sun.

And the new Nara clan head looked at Ino the way you would look at the sun. In the way that one would squint because one was too bright that it was blinding. And yet he was clearly a man of blue skies (like her too wide eyes) and white soft clouds (just like her gentle touch) and rays of sunshine (much like her gold spun hair). He could complain over and over when the sun was not around and how he suffered when the sun was gone. And then he could be annoyed of how hot and how too bright it was, but he couldn't have lived without it. But he also looked at her like she was the fading wild orange, indigo and reds of a sunset, always sad that their time was cut off too short. She was the sun and he would bask in her warm light. So yes, he loved her from the crown of her head to the very tips of her well-maintained toes.

All Ino ever wants from her partners are constant validation. That she was enough. That it was all good. That there was no problem. That they would stay. Shikamaru tries to ease her worries, every single day. With a kiss or an embrace or a whisper or just simply trying to take care of her when she forgets to do it herself. The world may think him crazy for putting up with her whining. But what they didn't understand was that he didn't think it mattered. She was just looking for a little loving, just like everybody else.

But today, Chouji saves him from having to answer such a stupid question. His other best friend appears by their side seemingly out of thin air. Chouji and Shikamaru nod to each other and he steps back knowingly, dropping his hands away from Ino's and her waist. Hers are placed on Chouji's shoulder and his strong hand. Ino pouts at not being answered as she is whisked away to the center of the dance floor and from Shikamaru.

But Shikamaru hears it loud and clear.

"I should hope so," Chouji teased Ino with a cheeky grin. "Otherwise this wedding would be really awkward."

Ino sticks her tongue out at him and Chouji laughs.

Shikamaru lets Chouji pacify his bride--wife-- for now. He'll just have to repeat his vows against her skin with his tongue. Preferrably, one letter at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> wink wink


End file.
